Educational material.



No. 870,277. PATENTE) N07. 5, 1907.

A. R. ELIOT.

EDUCATION AL MATERIAL. APPLIOATION FILED Nov. 22. 190e.

FFICE.

ALICE R, ELIOT, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALICE R. ELIOT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful improvements in Educational Material, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to 'educational material, and consists particularly in improved material units for elementary calculation lessons and training in simple geometric forms, such as are now employed in various specic modes for concrete illustrations and examples, in kindergarten training.

In so far as I am informed, the material calculation units or counters heretofore employed have been too light and destructible to serve their purpose well. The most widely used material calculation or elementary form units have been very slender sticks of wood, which serve as units of elementary arithmetical work or as movable linear elements for the composition of geometric forms. These are fragile, so light that a breath or light touch scatters them, and thereby interferes with the purpose of the very method of education they are intended to serve, Moreover, the

.frequent loss or breakage of such calculation units renders it necessary constantly.

By my invention and improvement herein described, I provide a material calculation unit for such purposes as are briefly outlined above, which possesses all the practical educational merits of the older devices, and is superior thereto in every practical aspect. The embodiment of my invention is moreover, very simple and though more expensive in rst cost than the materials it is designed to supplant, is nevertheless so permanent and durable, and so much less likely to be accidentally displaced or lost, that in the long run it will prove less expensive than its predecessors in this art.

to replenish the supply thereof In the drawings hereto annexed, which illustrate an embodiment of my invention, Figure l. is a perspective view of a material calculation unit for elementary educational purposes. Fig. 2. a longitudinal cross section of such a unit, on an enlarged scale, and Fig. 3. a cross section similar to Fig. 2, but showing the Inode in which the edge-thickened enamel coating performs one of its functions.

A, Fig. l. consists of a metal bar, preferably steel, which is rigid and not liable to become bent by use, polygonal in cross section, and preferably coated with an adherent enamel, which to serve its purpose best, should be baked on in the usual mode of enameling metals.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed November 22, 1906.

Il l

l consisting of a rigid metal bar,

Patented Nov. 5, 1907. serial No. 344,586.

B, Figs. 2 and 3, is the enamel coating, which is so applied that it is thicker at the end edges of the bar, as at b, b. Often in cutting steel bars,` a sharp ragged fm or projection, as a (Fig. 3) is left at one edge; this might of course be removed by filing the bar, or by tumbling alarge quantity of such bars; but I find it preferable to have'the surface of such bars as nearly as possible in the condition produced by the drawing dies, or rolls, which by reason of the hot condition of the metal and the superficial action of the dies or rolls, leaves a skin on the bar which appears to be far less liable to oxidation than a filed or polished surface. Therefore, I prefer to leave the bar as it is cut to suitable length, and to protect its surface still more effectually by the enamel coating. By allowing the enamel to collect at the end edges of the bar, it thickens at those places, and forms when set by the usualbaking process, a smooth rounded edge, thick enough to afford extra protection at the sharp corners, or to cover any projection or fin made by cutting the bar, as at a.

The bar being polygonal in cross section has no tendency to roll about on the kindergarten table, but stays in place wherever desired.v It cannot be blown about, and especially when employed as one of several similar calculation units for the construction of elementary geometric forms and patterns, is a pronounced improvement over the old contrivances I have mentioned. Further, these improved material calculation units are far cleaner and more easily cleansed or sterilized than any of the materials heretofore used. Even in case a pupil, who has handled my improved calculation units, is afflicted with a contagious disease the improved calculation units can be thoroughly steamed or otherwise heated and therefore be entirely harmless and fit for use. These polygonal enameled metal bar units are practically indestructible, and a single supply will last indefinitely, though used by many successive groups of children.

What I claim, and desire to secure by is:

1. A material calculation unit for elementary training, polygonal in cross section, coated with an adherent enamel.

A material calculation unit for elementary training, consisting' of a rigid metal bar, polygonal in cross section, coated with an adherent enamel, said coating thickened Letters Patent Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts this twenty first day 0f November 1906.

ALICE R. ELIOT. Witnesses JOSEPH T. BRENNAN, CHARLES D. WOODBERRY. 

